


Bare Your Teeth Against the Sun

by bouqueer



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Blood and Injury, M/M, it's a hard life when almost everyone but you has sharp pointy teeth
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-12
Updated: 2017-09-12
Packaged: 2018-12-27 04:09:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12073236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bouqueer/pseuds/bouqueer
Summary: If it bites hard, it's not really looking for a friend- any logical creature understands that much. ESPECIALLY if your daily life consists of seeing and interacting to werewolves on a daily basis. But Yugi isn't the most logical of humans, now is he? Taking in an injured werewolf who almost took his arm off and befriending it has to be one of the craziest things he's done. The stranger has a troubled, dangerous past, that much he can tell- and that either his new friend will find the answers he seeks, or the questions he asks will find them first.





	Bare Your Teeth Against the Sun

The sun is setting behind them when Yugi and his friends drive down the road through the forest. Jounouchi blasts the music loud enough to overcome his old Suzuki jeep’s rumbles and sputters. He and Honda sing along to Born To Be Wild - they’re not very good, but they don’t mind it at all.

“Pipe down you two!” Anzu yells, or at least Yugi’s assumes so. When Jounouchi drives and Honda shotguns, there is a pretty big chance you’ll go back home with a developing tinnitus case.

“WHAT, SORRY I CAN’T HEAR YOU,” Jounouchi tries to turn the volume up but Anzu reaches out from the backseat and swats his hand away. They both struggle for the knob while the car dangerously swerves to left and right.

“Uh guys, could you not do this while we’re still moving?” Yugi says, gripping onto his seatbelt if it were the only thing keeping him alive. Which, truthfully speaking, has already saved his life twice in this godforsaken junk of a car before.

“DID YOU SAY SOMETHING, YUG?”

“YES PLEASE KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE ROAD PLEASE CAN WE DO THAT!?”

 The tires screech from the sudden turn Jounouchi makes, sending Anzu backwards onto her seat. The jeep slides a whole 180 degrees across the asphalt before coming to a halt.

Jounouchi turns off the music.

“Here we are, now everyone get out!” he jumps out first. Yugi watches him run a lap around the abandoned parking lot until Honda joins him.

“Really, we could’ve hung out at the arcade or the park or any other place that isn’t a creepy convenience store in the woods…” Anzu sighs but reluctantly follows.

The empty store with broken windows and barred entrances didn’t seem particularly inviting to Yugi at first either, but it became a comfortable site after a while. Jounouchi spotted this place over a month ago and made it their hangout spot. This place used to be gross and kinda spooky, but all of them pitched in to make it less trashy and… cozy wouldn’t be the right word, not really- but familiar, and easy to get used to.

The biggest pro, though? No one stopped by to hang out here, which meant their crew had it all for themselves. They had all the time in the world to spend here. First things first, of course, is the clean up. Even now they have to go around the lot to collect discarded cans and whatever else people throw away while speeding by.

Jounouchi tries to make it more fun and pretends to play basketball, cans for balls and the trunk of his jeep for the hoop. After the third consecutive clank of aluminum, Anzu seems to take personal offense to it.

“Oh no, you know what- not this time,” Anzu pulls out a roll of garbage bags from her purse and shakes it at Jounouchi. “I swear to god if you let them rot there at the back again I will skin you alive.”

“Hey, it’s my car, I can make decisions of my own,” he crosses his arms defiantly. “If I want it to smell bad, then it will!”

“Why would you even want that? Is that the aesthetic you’re going for?” she scrunches her nose. “Well I won’t tolerate it anymore, I’m sick of arriving in that stink truck every morning and having people in uni looking at me weirdly!”

 “You could just go by foot or public transport,” Jounouchi grumbles, but one mean look from Anzu and his survival instincts kick in. “Fiiiiiiiine, but I’m not cleaning up the inside! No take backs!”

“Wait a m- why do you need to do this,” she concedes on this one and holds the bag for Jounouchi while he shovels everything gross into it. “Oh god, how long has _that_ been in there!?”

He sniffs it. “I’d say about three weeks, ain’t half bad yet!”

“Jounouchi, I’m this close to throwing up.”

There are no plans to camp out tonight so everyone agrees on skipping the campfire. They take the few cans that don’t have ants crawling out of them and create makeshift lights with some tape and electric candles. Honda brings out some old thick blankets and drapes them over the two sturdy display stands they took from the store a few weeks ago and refashioned into benches.

Yugi loves hanging out with his friends. If they weren’t there for him, he would stay home either playing games or studying. Well, most probably only playing games. He seems like the nerdy type but only God knows how he gets these good grades. Jounouchi and Honda, who were never really the studying type, always rope everyone else into goofing off.

And, as much as Yugi cares about them not dropping out of university, he has to admit he enjoys spending his evenings having fun with his friends much more.

_Crunch._

Well. Maybe not _THAT_ part.

“Hey, can’t you see you’re making Yugi uncomfortable?” Anzu is the first to notice his mood drop.

“Oh no, it’s okay, you don’t need to…” he begins, waving with his hands, but Jounouchi has already stopped biting into the soda can. He spits it out, getting the drink all over his pants and the blanket.

“Ah, shit-“He jumps up and shakes his pants vigorously. Soda gets everywhere and on everyone. “I keep forgetting, it’s just a can y’know?”

“You gotta get used to this somehow, Yugi!” Honda chips in, and of course _there_ he goes, showing off his huge-ass sharp teeth.

Yugi isn’t specifically scared of werewolves. What he is, though, is a scaredy cat who jumps at every sharp sound his friends love making.

“It’s okay, I just didn’t expect Jounouchi to try drinking his soda in the most uncomfortable way possible.”

“This is a skill, a skill I tell ya!” Jounouchi points at the crushed can. “What are those looks supposed to mean!? Give me another one right now, I’ll prove it!!”

Their conversation jumps from their days to university woes and then to personal problems. When Honda feels good enough to bicker with Jounouchi again instead of thinking about his job, Yugi decides it’s time for his forest walk.

“You sure you don’t want one of us to go with you?” Honda asks.

“No worries, I won’t go deep in, just pick some blueberries,” Yugi reassures everyone.

“Bring some back for us too!” Jounouchi yells after him, to which Yugi responds with a thumbs up.

He grabs his flashlight from the trunk on his way- it doubles as a source of light AND as a self-defense weapon, which is pretty great in case he wants to feel safer.

He turns on the light and-

-barely misses getting his eyes stabbed out. A comically large and wide branch lies on the ground, probably broken off by the storm a few days ago.

This is the third time this week something/someone has gone for his eyes. He carefully moves it out of the way so no one else would get injured accidentally.

What do people say at times like these? Third time’s a pattern?

“Hopefully this doesn’t mean the universe has its eyes on me…” he mumbles to himself and continues on.

Such wreckage comes up a second, then a third, then a fourth time. Yugi was curious about whether someone else came here before, but it’s obvious the path isn’t used and all his to explore.

He moves some of the smaller branches away with his foot. _Gotta make a mental note to drag Jounouchi over here to help me with the bigger ones._

Thinking it over, walking around like that alone is never a good idea, especially when Yugi tends to attract trouble towards himself like he’s a saloon in a western movie. Being safe for so long must’ve made him overconfident.

Yes, that must be it. He should’ve known better. Before the low growl, even before the smell of blood hitting him like a wave of fatigue.

He stares at the long, sharp and _surprisingly_ clean teeth of the werewolf in front of him. They’re much cleaner than Honda’s, at least. God, why is he thinking about that now!? He should be running, screaming- wait no not screaming, he’s not supposed to…right? Yugi wishes he would remember what he is exactly supposed to do right now. How to escape from this?

…How to survive, at all?

It sinks into Yugi, deep and overwhelming and _paralyzing-_ he does not have the time to stand around in one place but he can’t, he can’t do it. He can’t move. He’s going to die.

He’s going to die.

The creature’s eyes are not focused, but it seems painfully aware of Yugi’s presence as well. It exhales heavily and growls again, much louder now. It moves forward, making Yugi stumble backwards on the ground.

This is it, this is how he dies-

…Or not?

For all the strength the giant wolf form seems to possess, the beast’s first step seems to be its last. It struggles to keep standing, but collapses on the spot with a loud thud. Such heavy heaving is definitely not normal. It’s definitely injured, but just how badly?

…Wait. Yugi should totally be booking it right now. Nothing about this situation says he take pity on the creature- it definitely wants Yugi to buzz off, to mind his own business, to stay in his lane like a normal, life-valuing person would.

And if it weren’t for the definite signs of ‘scared and injured’ – just as scared as him- Yugi wouldn’t hesitate. Well, he probably would still be frozen in fear, but just knowing he’s not dinner helps with his jelly legs.

He knows it’s stupid, but he wants to help. Yugi knows what’s it like to be injured with no one there for you, after all.

“Hello, I won’t harm you,” Yugi says, his voice shaky. “I think you still understand me in wolf form, right?”

Another growl, but it’s much quieter now. Yugi takes it as a sign it’s either tired or acknowledging him, and moves towards the creature in a crouch.

“Oh god...”

Now that he’s much closer, Yugi notices just how matted the forehead fur is and the slim wreaths of what is definitely wolfsbane stuck inside.

That must hurt a lot. Yugi blanches at the memory of Jounouchi getting burned by wolfsbane a few months back and the ugly wounds it left behind. He can only assume something similar is happening underneath the fur.

“Who could do such a thing…?” Yugi murmurs. He extends his hand slowly towards the wreaths, but the werewolf bares his teeth in a warning. Oh, that’s kind of really scary.

“I’ll just remove them, I want to help, okay?” he tries to smile reassuringly, but it comes out more like a grimace.

He reaches for the wolfsbane really slowly while keeping a constant check on how the creature is reacting. It seems to understand what he’s trying to do, at least, and lowers its head in compliance (or exhaustion again, Yugi just isn’t sure).

Just what are these things made of? Yugi tries to gently rip the wreaths off, but it seems they’re pretty stuck there. He traces the stems and leaves until he notices all of them connecting in one place. Even if Yugi puts some strength into his pull, the plants don’t come out. Honestly, it feels like they took root inside. He receives a warning growl this time, but it just seems so close, he’s moving and tugging on it stronger now and it’s almost out-

_Crunch._

Yugi registers the sound first, but the pain quickly follows. It’s sharp, just like the teeth that are causing it, and there’s blood dripping down his arm-

He tries to hold in a scream and ends up sounding like a boiling kettle. It would be embarrassing if this wasn’t so terrifying. The werewolf’s eyes stare at him intensely, a scorching jumble of pain and hatred and fear.

With a grit of his teeth, Yugi clenches the wolfsbane with his trembling hand and pulls it out.

The werewolf yelps and releases Yugi’s arm from its hold immediately. The torn wreath Yugi holds are bloody and smell terribly, and he can see there‘s blood seeping down the werewolf‘s snout. Its body hits the ground heavily.

Yugi forgets his pain for a few seconds in favor of freaking out.  He didn’t just _kill_ the werewolf, right? Oh god, what if this was a mistake, he shouldn’t have done that, what if he just _killed someone-_

He runs.

“JOUNOUCHIIIIIIIIIIII!”

Crying, bleeding from his arm and out of breath, Yugi is a real sight for everyone back at their base. Everyone drops whatever they were doing to rush towards him.

“JOUNOUCHIYOUNEEDTOHELPPLEASELET’SGOPLEASEWENEEDTOGO-“

“What happened?” Anzu is the first to ask. “Don’t crowd around him!”

 Honda rummages through the trunk and brings back a first aid kit and a hand towel that they promptly dump a whole bottle of water on. Honda inspects Yugi’s arm while carefully patting the blood away. His face blanches.

 “That’s a bite, Anzu, he was bitten by a werewolf-”

“Who’s the bastard that did this to you!?” Jounouchi grabs Yugi’s shaking shoulders.

“Wedon’thavetimecomeonpleaselet’sgothey’lldie-“

 “Let him go!” Anzu swats at Jounouchi’s arm. He promptly drops them at his sides, choosing to furiously stare into the forest instead.

“We’re here, everything is fine,” she holds her hands out and Yugi grabs onto them like his life depends on it. “Breathe together with me, okay?”

Yugi closes his eyes real tight and counts to ten, trying to ignore the overwhelming suffocation he’s feeling. Right, okay, he’s dealt with this before. He knows all the procedures, but Anzu helps and guides him along them until he’s feeling better, though still dizzy.

“We need to get you to a hospital, this seems deep,” Honda insists.

“The werewolf that bit me- it’s still in the woods,” Yugi finally explains, urgently pointing towards the path. “It’s injured real bad and I think it’s my fault, we need to take it with us!”

“Have you even _looked_ at yourself right now?” Jounouchi says.

Now that Yugi thinks about it, he actually hasn’t. Ignoring Honda’s protests, he peeks under the blood-soaked towel and oh god that’s not looking good at all. That’s just one huge purple bruise with teeth punctures and watered down blood streams. He lowers the towel back down and makes himself promise he won’t look at it again because honestly just _seeing_ it has made the pain much worse.

“Okay you’re right that’s bad but it’s my fault it bit me!” Yugi argues. “It’s obviously injured and scared and I just didn’t think it through that well!”

“You’re telling me you just came up to a stranger who can easily rip your throat out and ignored it literally growling at you!?”

Yugi groans. “Kinda...”

“You really don’t value your life that much, huh?” Jounouchi grumbles.

“It just…seemed to be in a lot of pain.”

Jounouchi kicks up some of the dirt and shoves his hands into his pockets. “Honda, help me out with this. You left it in the middle of the path there?”

“Jounouchiiiiiii,” Yugi says, his eyes tearing up.

“Well we gotta help if it’s injured right!?” Jounouchi unrolls his sleeves and waves Yugi off. “You just stay put, and I’ll settle things with that asshole when you’re both feeling better!”

Waiting for his friends to come back with a possibly dead werewolf is definitely nerve-wracking for Yugi. The pain in his arm has dulled a bit but it keeps cramping up and that’s not a pleasant feeling at all. He paces back and forth for full two minutes until Anzu sits him down and reapplies the towel.

“Will it be my fault if it’s dead?” he asks, his eyes focused intently onto the forest’s dark and empty passageway.

He can feel Anzu’s glare without even turning. “Didn’t you say it was already injured? I’m sure whatever you did couldn’t possibly kill a werewolf.”

It sounds so obvious when she says it. Yugi’s small, and he couldn’t do something malicious intentionally- but the fear still clings to him, sucking everything out until he feels cold to the bone.

“How much longer will I have to hold my arm up?” he complains.

“At least until we get you to a hospital,” Anzu sighs. “Really, this is nothing compared to the stitching you might have to get-“

“They’re back!!” Yugi interrupts her, jumping up so fast he gets dizzy. Jounouchi swears loud enough to be recognized from afar, even if he’s just a shadow. He and Honda come back from the woods arguing about something but it doesn’t matter because what they’re carrying is unmistakably the injured werewolf.

“Oh god you found it, how is it!?” Yugi runs up to them with tears in his eyes. He wants to touch the creature himself, to check if it’s breathing or at least if it’s not corpse-cold. The sharp pain in his arm stops him, his hand hovering just above the werewolf’s dark fur.

“It’s alive, alright,” Jounouchi says. He and Honda bring the werewolf to the back of the car and lower it carefully into the trunk.

“We need to get them both treated,” Anzu says, waving with the bloody and now dirty towel to prove her point.

“Oh, whoops, must’ve dropped that…” Yugi says sheepishly.

 “That’s what I’m sayin’ too!” Jounouchi gets heated again, turning to Honda and pointing a finger at him. “He thinks we’re stupid if we do this!”

Honda furrows his eyebrows, glaring back at Jounouchi with equal intensity. “You understand Yugi got bitten, right? He’ll get minimal treatment and then he’ll go under surveillance until the next full moon- that’s one week of confinement with no outside contact allowed!”

“He’ll have to go through that eventually anyways, and I doubt they’ll just abandon him to suffer,” Anzu argues.

“Maybe so, but what about this werewolf here? He bit someone, he’ll definitely get at least a few years of prison, or even worse- it’s not like us, I don’t even _know_ what kind of laws apply to it!”

“It can’t go to jail because of me,” Yugi says. “It didn’t do this on purpose, it was my fault.”

“The police will assume we were in on this,” Honda crosses his arms. “All of us will end up in trouble.”

They all stand around in silence for a bit, coming to terms with the situation at hand. Guilt, fear and pain wrack Yugi’s brain, and he can’t think of anything, not one way to make this better. All of this is his fault.

“I’ll go report that I’ve been bitten,” he finally says slowly, choosing to stare at the ground instead of his friends. “I’ll say that the werewolf got away, but you all should take it somewhere else.”

“That’s like the second worst option,” Anzu says. “We won’t leave you alone like that!”

“That’s the _best_ option we have,” Jounouchi shoves his hands into his pockets. “But I’m coming with you, Yugi. Like hell I’ll let you be there on your own with those creeps.”

“And what are we supposed to do?” Anzu asks, waving towards the trunk. “You know, with this whole situation?!”

“I don’t care where that bastard goes,” Jounouchi snaps. “Yugi needs to be patched up and we’ll deal with everything else later.”

Yugi wants to argue, say that it’s not him that is in critical condition, but Jounouchi gets into the driver’s seat, slamming the door louder than necessary.

“I’ll ride in the back together with the werewolf,” Yugi tells Anzu and Honda, climbing over the top with some difficulty.

“Don’t sit too near it, okay?” Honda says. “I don’t want it biting you a second time, that’d be an overkill.”

“It’s not even conscious, you know,” Yugi sighs, looking at the faint rise and fall of the werewolf’s chest.

He ducks his head for a bit, thinking of what could he possibly say- an apology, an explanation, a thank you?

Anzu seems to understand what he’s trying to do, and pats his shoulder. “All we need is you to get better now, okay? So leave everything else for later.”

Yugi looks at her gratefully, and then turns to look at the werewolf laying down beside him. The creature looks like it’s in pain even asleep. Just how much damage has been done? Yugi’s heart stings a little.

The bite stings just a little more.

“Please take care of them. For me, too.”

 

 

 

“So, you’re Yugi Muto, correct?”

“Yes, that’s me.”

“Is all the information on this paper written and spelled correct? Your name, surname, phone number and so on?”

Yugi picks at his bandage. “Yes, everything seems correct.”

“Well then, shall we take your testimony now?”

“Yes, of course, I was-“

The woman puts down her pen. “You don’t need to be tense, Yugi- though I imagine you are still shocked. Take your time recounting it, I’m in no rush.”

He takes a huge gulp of water from the plastic cup in front of him. She’s really making it easier for him to lie, but he can’t shake off the feeling of guilt. The police officer (Lawyer? Whatever she works as??) has been incredibly kind to him all this time. Well, compared to how other people treated him when he arrived at the infirmary.

He takes a deep breath and stares off into the ceiling, focusing on the crumbling plaster by the lights.

“Me and my friends were hanging out- wait, is hanging out official enough? We were spending time together-“

“As long as you don’t swear, anything should be fine Yugi.”

Alright, okay. He recounts his mostly truthful story as quick as possible. The officer writes for a while, engulfing the small room in silence except for the soft scribbling of her pen. Yugi follows the pen with his eyes nervously. She circles something a few times, which makes Yugi feel like throwing up.

“Were there any identifying features the werewolf had that you can remember?”

Hispo form, dark red matted fur, heavily injured. “It was really dark in there, it just looked big…”

“Was there anything unusual that happened before, during or after this encounter?”

Well, for starters, his friends actually agreed to take in the werewolf that bit him to care for because he begged so much. “I didn’t think I would get away with my life but I somehow did.”

“Anything unusual you seem to be feeling?”

Oh god, they really think he’s going to become a werewolf now. “I’m feeling dizzy, is that bad?”

Yugi watches her mark something down and underline it two times. He looks down as she looks up.

“There is nothing to fear, Yugi. Contrary to the widespread belief, there isn’t such an incredibly high chance of you becoming a werewolf. Especially if the one that attacked you was of a bigger scale,” she is smiling, or at least Yugi feels like she is from her voice. He’s still staring at his bandaged arm and the small gap he left with his nails.

He understands that she’s trying to make him feel better, about the whole possible-future-werewolf thing. It’s just a procedure she has to do, nothing special. But it would definitely be less nerve-wracking if Yugi didn’t decide to lie.

Not a lot was changed in the story, but it feels like the officer’s onto him already. Yugi remembers the TV shows he’ seen, where they make you repeat the whole testimony backwards because that’s how they catch a liar. Isn’t doing something like that always hard, anyways?

“Is everything okay?” she asks. Oh, he’s been scrunching up his face while trying to recount the whole story backwards. That must be really suspicious of him. He absolutely _sucks_ at this _._

“Yes, just really exhausted,” he mumbles. There is no real way to discreetly look at the clock, but he does it anyways. It’s only been 15 minutes? That…seems wrong.

The door opens loudly, making Yugi jump in his chair.

“Oh- you’re still doing the interrogation? Sorry for barging in like this,” the nurse apologizes, looking unsurely between Yugi and her (maybe??) colleague.

“No, it’s quite alright,” the officer says. “You won’t interrupt, we’re almost done.”

There’s a certain relief in hearing this’ll wrap up soon. Yugi sits there, listening to the kettle heating up while the officer rereads her notes.

“Just in how much trouble is he, then?” the nurse asks. Why are the people here acting like he’s some sort of master criminal? Not like people get bitten on purpose and then voluntarily turn themselves in, right?!

“You seem to be making him uneasy,” the officer responds, though she’s smiling just a tiny bit. She hands some official-looking papers to Yugi and gives him the pen. “These are about your testimony, assault case and then your agreement on bi-weekly check-ups.”

“Don’t worry kid, the next moon’s pretty soon, you’re being let off the hook pretty easy this time,” the nurse is smiling too now, possibly trying to cheer him up that way. It’s not really helping him feel less anxious and uncomfortable about this situation, but he signs the papers anyways.

“Is there uh…anything else?” Yugi asks, mentally crossing his fingers for a no.

“I think we’ll end it here, and I’ll see you in two days,” the officer begins putting all of her papers back into her case, which, to Yugi’s understanding, is an adult way of saying he’s free to go.

Well, he’s definitely taking up this opportunity to get out of here.

“I’m going to go then,” he awkwardly says and retreats to the door. “Goodbye, Ms Ishtar.”

She gives him one last kind smile. “You can call me Ishizu, Yugi. Have a good day.”

 

 

 

Thank god the walk back home is only 20 minutes, or Yugi would’ve fallen asleep on top of his best friend. Sure, taking the bus would’ve made things easier for them. The problem was, they didn’t really think this through- Jounouchi only had a few dimes and Yugi didn’t actually have pockets on his outfit. So walking it was.

“Sorry for making you carry me,” Yugi apologizes for the third time.

“You really need to call it quits with that,” Jounouchi says. “I get being exhausted after such an intense day.”

“I don’t know about calling it intense…”

“Whatever it was, you deserve a break.” Jounouchi gives Yugi a thumbs up. “So you’re allowed to rely on your best pal, okay?”

“Don’t let go I’m falling!!”

“Shit-sorry about that- oh hey, we’re here.” he crouches to help Yugi climb off. “Everyone off the Jou-express!”

“Were we playing a kid train at a mall?” Yugi says, but he’s laughing and honestly feeling better than before. You can always leave it to Jounouchi to turn his bad mood around.

The bell jingles as they enter the game shop, alerting Yugi’s grandpa, who stands behind the counter refilling a card game stand.

“Yugi, you’re back!” the old man beams cheerfully, but his smile quickly changes into a worried frown when he sees Yugi’s bandaged arm. “What in the world happened?”

Crap. He really should’ve thought about how he was going to explain this. Yugi wasn’t just about to straight up tell his grandpa he got bitten by a werewolf- that might be too much for his poor heart.

“Well, uhh- you see, I did a really dumb thing today, after my classes I was hurrying to meet up with everyone and-“

“Yeah, he collided with someone and fell on the ground!” Jounouchi interrupts him. “There were glass shards on the ground and Yugi got some of them stuck in his arm so I took him to the hospital!”

Grandpa Mutou scratches his beard thoughtfully. What, is he not buying it? He’s totally not buying it, lying was such a bad bad idea!!

“Is this lad you collided with the one your friends brought over? I was concerned about him being unconscious but they said he was just really tired after some tests.”

“That is-“

Jounouchi elbows him and pointedly stares into something past the back door. Crouching at the top of the stairs, Honda and Anzu are waving to catch their attention. Honda tries to act something out- he’s cupping his hands over his head- what is that, a headache?? Yugi looks to Jounouchi for help, but he’s looking dumbfounded himself. This reminds Yugi of when they play charades. Wait, gotta concentrate, god what to say, what to say!?

“They’re a friend, probably collapsed because of a headache-“

Anzu shakes her head violently and tries to help Honda- she’s making two pointed V’s with her fingers and putting them to Honda’s head, and he’s singing- no, he’s howling- wait, are they saying what he thinks they’re saying? Did they actually bring the werewolf back home in _werewolf_ form!?

“YES, so tired they turned into wolf form, everyone was really surprised but we really needed to help a friend out, can’t just leave someone lying on the ground, you know how it is!!” he says, sweating bullets. God, that sounds like the most pathetic excuse he’s ever heard. They need a way out of this, _fast._

“That’s really upsetting to hear,” grandpa says. “Good thing your kindhearted sister decided to help out, Jounouchi, the poor kid must be completely exhausted.”

“My _sister_!?” Jounouchi’s eyes bulge out. “My sister’s here?”

“She came after a while, such a sweet gal honestly,” grandpa laughs. “It’s always so hard to think of you two as siblings, honestly!”

“That’s really mean, gramps,” Jounouchi starts, but Anzu’s frantic waving grabs his and Yugi’s attention once again. “Well we gotta go now, Yugi’s gotta rest, doctor’s orders! See ya later!”

“Wait, I wanted to ask about-“

“Don’t tell mom I’m hurt, okay? I’ll show her later,” Yugi asks and sprints for the stairs without waiting for an answer. He almost knocks over Anzu and Honda over on the way up, who scramble to hide before grandpa sees all of them.

“You’re both horrible at lying,” Anzu says once they’re all safe from grandpa’s scrutiny.

“Hey, you could’ve just texted us for what the cover-up was gonna be instead of playing charades!” Jounouchi responds. “And what’s this I hear about my sister, huh?!”

“Can’t you be quiet?” she shushes him. “Who else were we supposed to get? Can you find any other local medics you’d know?”

“She’s not some personal doctor you can call anytime you want!”

“This is really not the time to fight,” Yugi tries to calm them both down, hoping this won’t grow into another fight.

Jounouchi gives Anzu a final dirty look and stomps away.

“Hey, Shizuka! That bastard werewolf hasn’t done anything bad to you, has it!?” he barges into Yugi’s room, with everyone following him inside.

“Hello to you too! And of course not, I doubt they could while sleeping,” she answers.

The floor is a much bigger mess than Yugi remembers. The few clothes he had laying around have been thrown onto his bed as well as other things he kept on the floor. The werewolf occupies most of the space now, but surrounding them are wet towels and bowls full of water they hang from, bandages and scissors resting next to big clumps of fur and wolfsbane.

“How are they?” Yugi immediately kneels down next to Shizuka.

“Condition’s stable, the most tiring part for the werewolf was the wolfsbane. The plant didn’t let an old wound heal, now there’s a huge scar on their forehead- that’s what made the fur so clumpy, mostly the congealed blood, but I took care of it now,” she explains while washing her hands.

That was exactly what Yugi needed to hear right now. He knows it’s silly and reckless, but Yugi’s honestly glad all of them took the stranger in and managed to help. With such a heavy burden off of his heart, he almost bursts into tears.

“But that’s so cruel!” Anzu says, leaning in to look at the creature. “A shape like that, no way it happened naturally!”

Yugi has to agree. The scar seems almost burned onto the short forehead fur with clean edges- a perfect, symmetrical shape of an eye.

“That’s some Sailor Moon shit right there,” Jounouchi says.

That… eerily fits. Well, except for the whole part where the werewolf wasn’t bullied by kids and also bit Yugi hard enough to draw blood. Is this some dark version of Sailor Moon happening? Is this what’s happening with his life right now?

“Well, at least don’t say that to their face,” Shizuka reprimands him. “They’re about to wake up.”

Yugi’s eyes dart anxiously towards the hulking mass of fur that twitches and releases a loud sigh. He can feel everyone tense around him, including himself.

The werewolf’s eyes fly open, narrow pupils frantically darting around from face to face. They try to stand up, but the fatigue seems to kick in again and the creature collapses on the ground again. Yugi hears their growl in his throat and tries to gulp it down.

“Hey, it’s alright, we’re friends,” he says, catching the werewolf’s attention. “You looked hurt so we wanted to help you, we mean no harm.”

In an attempt to convey his message, Yugi stares straight into the werewolf’s eyes. The werewolf stares back, and for a while it feels like the situation’s not getting anywhere. Then, with another sigh, the creature moves a bit and puts its head next to Yugi.

“You want to rest?” Yugi asks, awkwardly putting his hand on the werewolf’s head.

That’s a comforting gesture, right? He’s not entirely sure what he’s supposed to do, so naturally, Yugi goes for petting the huge dog that can easily bite his hand off. Absolutely genius response, as always- not like there are werewolves that don’t like being treated like pets, right, you complete idiot?

As much as Yugi might want to beat himself up for that move, the werewolf doesn’t seem to mind. It actually takes it so well that its fur grows back into hair, and its snout back into a face, and the rest of their huge werewolf body shrinks back together into a naked human.

“No one needs to see that, thanks!” Anzu says, dropping Yugi’s blanket on top of the bare werewolf almost immediately.

“This is exactly why I carry around emergency pants,” Jounouchi says. “Not a very comfortable situation, huh, asshole?”

“I don’t know if that’s something to brag about…” Yugi says. “Hey wait, actually this isn’t what’s important now- are you alright? Can you talk?”

The stranger wraps the blanket around themselves and lazily opens one eye to look at Yugi.

“Tomorrow, alright? I really need some,” they yawn, “rest right now.”

Yugi glances at the unevenly cut short hair and the reddish purple scar on their forehead, then nods.

“Definitely get some shut-eye tonight,” he says. “I’m Yugi, by the way!”

The stranger searches for something in Yugi’s face, and apparently finds it- or at least Yugi assumes from the small nod they give.

Their voice is barely a whisper, half asleep already. “Call me Atem.“

**Author's Note:**

> God forgive me for what I yabba dabba did
> 
> I dunno if I'll continue this because I'm only good at one-shots but also I have to practice writing multi-chapter stories so I GUESS IF AT LEAST SOMEONE LIKES WHAT I'M DOING HERE... I really need to kick my ass to write more stuff!!!
> 
> my tumblr: http://nettlehare.tumblr.com/  
> my twitter: https://twitter.com/swallowastar
> 
> if you want to talk and make friends hit me up, especially if you want to talk fics and headcanons and all that!!!!!!


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